Empty World
by Setren
Summary: After falling unconscious durring a fight between Inuyasha and a particularly nasty demon, Kagome wakes to find her self alone... and blind. Who's to find her but Sesshoumaru himself.
1. Chapter 1

Hi to all of you who have stumbled upon this fanfiction, Empty World. I will just like to say that I do not own Inu-Yasha or any of its characters; I wish I do, but alas, I don't. Yet. Please try to bear with me, it may take a while for me to update and some of the chapters may be short. Flames are accepted just as long as there is some point to all the rants, I'm cool with them. See, I'm a nice person! ( Please enjoy and don't forget to review!  
  
Setren  
  
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Kagome watched anxiously as Inuyasha fought against Gaidoku, yet another twisted incarnation of Naraku. He/it was similar to Goshinki in body type: large and lizard-like with massive claws and blood hungry red eyes. But this one wasn't a mind reader like his deceased brethren. No, this one could melt away at the ground every time he tore at it with his talons, filling the air with noxious gases as soil flew everywhere.  
  
Miroku had set up a protective barrier around himself, Sango, Shippo and Kagome while Inuyasha, the only one able to stand up to the poison, fought. It was slowly deteriorating however. The venomous vapor ate at it like acid making the monk worry how long the shield would hold.  
  
Inuyasha was having his own problems. He was bleeding heavily from a chest wound where the pain from the poison had already wormed itself through, making a nauseous feeling churn in his stomach and his head pound. The Tetsusaiga was out, but he could never find a chance to use one of its deadly techniques. Godaiku moved as fast as Goshinki making the wind scar disappear as soon as he found it. The backlash wave too was becoming impossible to execute. Mainly for the same reason he couldn't do the wind scar. The demon moved with such quick, fluid movements, he might as well had been able to read the hanyou's mind.  
  
Godaiku stepped back from a panting Inuyasha to laugh. "Don't tell me thisssss isssss the sssssame Inuyasha that ssssslaughtered my kin." He spoke with a bone chilling, hissing voice. "I expected more." He turned to face the three humans and foxchild, all who where doing their best to stay conscious as the venomous air seeped through the thinning shield, smothering them. "What a pity it isssss that you will have to watch your friendsssss die, after you did ssssso much to protect them."  
  
"You bastard!" Inuyasha choked out. Countless demons in the past had used this threat, but now, Inuyasha was afraid that this one might be able to follow through with it. He fell to his knees, trying to take in a breath and ended up coughing up blood. He staggered to his feet, clutching Tetsusaiga's hilt to balance himself. "I won't let you!"  
  
"I doubt that what you ssssspeak can be done." Whispered Godaiku as he advanced on the waning humans.  
  
'Have to do something.' Thought Kagome faintly, drawing out an arrow and knocking it in her bow. Sango readied her hiraikotsu with an arm that shook with fatigue from the lack of clean air. Miroku tugged at his prayer beads in a threateningly sort of way. He was willing to let the hellhole in his hand consume every drop of venom in this field, as long as it would slay this monster. Even Shippo tried to stand up tall, threatening the towering demon with a fist full of fox fire. 'We gotta make a stand, now if ever.'  
  
But Gaidoku attacked first, putting all of their efforts to fend him off to waste. In a large sweep of his clawed hand, he shattered Miroku's barrier. Even Kagome, who usually was immune to such things, sank to her knees with weakness as the noxious air filled her lungs. 'Can't breathe.' Her head was spinning. 'Can't die here.'  
  
"How about I ssssslay the reincarnation firssssst?"  
  
Something sharp tore across her face and chest as Godaiku attacked the defenseless girl. Blackness consumed her mind as pain seared through her.  
  
"KAGOME!"  
  
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When Kagome's mind slowly swam back into consciousness, everything was silent. 'Am I dead? No, I hurt too much to be dead.' She groaned as she tried to move her protesting body. 'Is it over then?'  
  
"Inuyasha?" she called. Silence. "Inuyasha!" Still nothing. The only answer she got was the sound of wind making an almost echoing, eerie sound as it blew across the field. She was alone. 'No, dammit no. He can't be dead. He just can't be.'  
  
Trying to suppress a wave of tears, Kagome tried to open her eyes. She had kept the shut tight for fear of what she might see. But nothing happened. The world remained as black as a moonless, starless night. 'What? What's going on? This has got to be a dream. A really, really bad dream.' She tried again. A mourning dove's gentle call told her that it was indeed day time, but as far as Kagome could tell, the sun had disappeared. She was blind. 


	2. Chapter 2

Slowly, Kagome began to pull herself across the field of now withered grass. One hand feeling the dry ground, the other in front of her, searching the air. Her body screamed with agony with every movement she made. A wetness down her front told her she was bleeding. A burning sensation in her abdomen made her feel as though she had swallowed a mouthful of acid, or perhaps overdosed on painkillers that were now eating her away from the inside out.  
  
'No, mustn't think like that. I'm gonna be okay! Everything's gonna be okay!' She told herself fiercely even though tears were working their way through her unseeing eyes.  
  
About fifteen miles away, Sesshoumaru stopped short, catching the strangest sent on the air. He breathed it in again, to examine it more closely. It was blood. And lots of it.  
  
"Jaken, Rin, stay here with Ah-Un." He said shortly before dashing off.  
  
It wasn't just a blood scent that floated upon the air. Death was very prominent as well, mingled with the unmistakable reek of Naraku. Inuyasha's blood was there too, along with the blood of his companions, and if his nose was deceiving him, their bodies were also lying there. Naraku, or what ever, had fled. Sesshoumaru quickened his pace. The smell was growing stronger and stronger, he searched it for any sign that his half brother might have transformed into a demon, but there was none. He saw a parting in the trees and put on an extra burst of speed and-  
  
Stopped.  
  
Had he not been so used to scenes like this, he would have been sick. What ever monstrosity Naraku had created, it harbored a powerful toxin. What small patches of the field that had not been torn up or melted were withered and dead. The scent of the poison still lingered on the air giving everything an almost purple green haze. Inuyasha was indeed dead, his face contorted with sadness, fear, and anger. His fire rat skin clothes looked burned where nasty slashes ran down his chest. The Tetsusaiga was still gripped in his limp fingers, looking like a rusty sword of no value. On a thought, Sesshoumaru bent down to pick it up. The half expected blue sparks danced around the hilt as his hand drew close, giving him a slight electric shock. 'Feh.'  
  
He straightened and looked around. The humans' bodies around him were all mutilated in some sick way. The poison having a much greater effect on their bodies had given them the images of wax dolls that could bleed.  
  
The human girl that always seemed to be following Inuyasha was not there however. A trail of blood with her scent showed that she still lived, and had managed to crawl away from the massacre into the surrounding forest. He followed the trail until he found the girl lying crumpled on the ground, unable to crawl any further. Deliberately he stepped on a dry twig to get her attention.  
  
Kagome started. 'Who was that? Inuyasha?' Rolling onto her back, Kagome strained her ruined eyes at the place where the crack was heard.  
  
"Inuyasha? Inuyasha is that you?"  
  
Sesshoumaru was slightly taken aback by these words, but quickly regained his composure when he saw her face. The brown eyes that he remembered holding a fierce fire of determination were now flat, no hint of shine nor luster danced there anymore. 'So she is blind, eh?'  
  
After getting no answer, Kagome attempted to sit up, but it made her head spin with the effort. She collapsed back down onto the dried leaves in a dead faint. Her chest rising ever so slightly announced that she still lived with every breath and passing second.  
  
The first thought that came to Sesshoumaru's mind was to simply leave her here to rot. He had enough responsibilities as it was and certainly did not need another human trailing him. Then he remembered, even now he could not take Tetsusaiga from his brother, even though Inuyasha was now dead. Perhaps this girl, who had been the only one to take the sword from his father's tomb, was the key to stripping it from his brother's corpse. True, Sesshoumaru already had two fine swords of his own, but pride for his bloodline refused him to leave his father's blade to rot with its owner.  
  
Sesshoumaru's eyes looked back upon the girl before him. Had it not been for the blood down her front, she would have looked like a whore, the last thing he needed. 'I could just let her die.' He thought simply. 'And revive her with Tenseiga. It would be easier. But she's blind. I could use this weakness of hers to my own advantage. Something else for her to worry about. Without her sight, she will have a job resisting my commands and it would be easier for me to get the Tetsusaiga through her.' He found himself looking at her wounds once more. 'But she will die if this is left untreated. Humans.' He thought with disgust. 'Always weak. Always getting into trouble and dieing for their mistakes. It's not like I'm keeping her for long. Once I have my hands on the sword that was mine from the beginning, I will have no more use for her. She can join her beloved hanyou in hell.' 


	3. Chapter 3

Mwuh, another short chapter. ::pout:: Next one will probably be the same. Ah well. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far!  
  
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Kagome slept quietly in the small cave Sesshoumaru had discovered. She hardly stirred at all making him wonder at times if she had died. But she did not die, though she would wish she had when she woke.  
  
The first awareness that told her she was alive was the searing pain that tore throughout her body. She struggled to sit up but it made her head pound something awful. Small hands touched with calluses placed themselves on her forehead and shoulder, easing her back to the rocky floor.  
  
"Kagome mustn't move yet. She is hurt."  
  
'Wait, I know that voice.' "Rin?"  
  
She could almost hear a smile in the girl's voice as she replied. "Yes, Rin is here!"  
  
'That is good.' She thought numbly, glad to hear a friendly, familiar voice for once. 'But, wait. If Rin is here, then Sesshoumaru...'  
  
"I see that you are awake." Came the cold voice that she knew all too well. Kagome started, and white flashes purged the blackness of the world as she sat straight up once more.  
  
"Kagome!" Rin protested. But Kagome was not going to lie down before this demon. She wasn't going to show more weakness in front of him. 'He must have been the one I heard before I passed out. It figures...NO! Don't think like that! Inuyasha is STILL alive! He's gotta be!'  
  
"Rin, go outside." Sesshoumaru spoke once more toward the girl who was clutching Kagome in a comforting manner. Rin nodded respectfully, and did as she was told. Kagome wanted to call out "Don't!" but she didn't. She couldn't.  
  
Fading, little, scampering footsteps told Kagome that Rin had left the cave. She was alone and did not dare to call Sesshoumaru "company". She scuttled backwards the best she could on the uneven ground until she hit a solid wall of stone. Taking deep breaths, she verbally confronted the demon.  
  
"W-where am I?" She asked with a stuttering voice that grew stronger as she continued. "Why did you take me? Where's Inuyasha? You know he's gonna be real angry when he catches up with you! You're gonna regret kidnapping me! Inuyasha will find me! Just you wait!"  
  
"He can do no such thing."  
  
It was this one simple sentence that sapped Kagome of all her new found strength. She noticed he said "can do" rather than "will do".  
  
"Wha- what d-do you...?"  
  
"He is dead. That would make retrieving you rather difficult, ne?"  
  
'No. It can't... be... he... can't have... died. No... he's lying...Inuyasha...is still...alive...'  
  
"YOU'RE WRONG!" she cried out at him, her face soaked with tears that she ignored. Sesshoumaru looked at her skeptically. "Inuyasha's still alive! He didn't die! He can't have!"  
  
'So to avoid the pain of acceptance, she will delve into denial. Humans... No matter. If she does not come to her senses herself, I can make her come to them myself.'  
  
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Rin slept fitfully that night. It seems that she was completely immune to nightmares or night noises. Sesshoumaru greatly believed that should a tsunami sweep through while she slept, she would not be awakened by it. He wished he had this gift.  
  
Unearthly cries escaped Kagome's mouth. He could smell the pain and fear as if it were radiating from her body. 'She knows Inuyasha is dead. She just wishes it were not true.' A plus point he supposed. He had seen cases of denial so severe that it almost made he, Sesshoumaru, feel a slight of pity. But what bothered him now was sound of longing on her voice. It reminded him of the call of a kinless wolf, crying for something to answer. Sesshoumaru knew this call well as a canine demon. He himself had heard it resound from his own throat. But just as well as he knew it, he had learned to ignore it as well. 


	4. Chapter 4

It was just about five days since Sesshoumaru had taken Kagome with the intent of using her to take back Tetsusaiga. During this time, Kagome did naught but sip at soup and water from Rin and dream. Each dream was in vivid color, and each one she relished like nothing else. Here, in her private refuge, she could see, she could live; she had Inuyasha, and Miroku, Sango, and Shippo. In her dreams she did not remember the horrible words the cold voice that belonged to Sesshoumaru had told her. She began to eat less and less. Even though in the waking world, she knew the terrible truth and that never again in the realm of the living will she ever be held in Inuyasha's arms, Kagome thrived on her dreams. Living only to experience them. 'And maybe,' she thought, 'if I left this world, they will become my reality.'

But as things go, that was not to be.

Sesshoumaru walked in to the cave from a day of scouting and pacing to see Rin vainly comforting a shaken, quivering Kagome. The girl kept on whispering words that made no sense to him, her hands clawed at the ground as if she were trying to get to something, and then there were her eyes. They were wide and staring, and yet, as she looked wildly toward him, he knew she couldn't see anything at all. It was almost unnerving.

"Rin doesn't know what happened!" Rin cried desperately at him. "Kagome was just sleeping and when she woke up," the little girl looked from the teen and back to Sesshoumaru, her eyes pleading for help.

He had nothing to say, and looked blankly at Kagome. He knew that humans experienced something that they call "dreams". Visions, apparently, that they see while asleep. Humans, as he also understood, could be deeply affected by these visions. And what appeared to have happened, Kagome had one that threw her at full force into truth and reality. Something that he had been expecting to happen.

"Rin, leave now."

"But-."

"Now."

Rin left. And Sesshoumaru walked toward Kagome. He looked down at her pitiful form, crumpled and blind before him.

"Rather pathetic, eh? Whatever happened to the headstrong bitch that Inuyasha loved? What do you think he would say if he saw you now?" he said in a mocking tone.

Hearing Inuyasha's name, made Kagome moan. She curled tighter into a ball. "He...he told me not to follow him." She whispered.

Sesshoumaru was caught off guard by this. 'What in hell's name?"

"He told me not to follow, as I ran toward him," Kagome repeated. "He was fading, I didn't want him to go, but he did... My wrists...they bled." She shuddered and then fell silent.

'Of course. Her "dream". Makes sense...' Sesshoumaru snorted. 'Making such a big deal over something that never happened. Truly pathetic.'

A.N.

Yeah, yeah, it's all short, shoot me. Its just I've had writers block and a lack of motivation for so long it got on my nerves and that became my motivation. Sigh...

Thank you to all who have read and reviewed this fic. I will try to do better for next chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

Whee! Something AMAZING has happened! I woke up this afternoon, and had motivation to get my lazy butt out of bed and write! XD not really, just my mom was shouting at me to get my lazy butt out of bed. Ah well, here I am with an update, hope everyone likes...

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After her reaction to the nightmare, Sesshoumaru was surprised how quickly she recovered. True, she was more apathetical than he was, but she no longer cried out in her sleep, she could eat on her own as long as someone (Rin) put it in her hands, and she spent her time sitting in a corner of the cave, thinking, showing no interest in anything else. Sometimes Rin would go over to her and ask for a storytelling session. Kagome would tell her a strange tale Sesshoumaru could only guess was from her strange world and then resume her silent meditation.

Two nights later from her breakdown over the dream, Kagome spoke abruptly during her dinner with Rin.

"Sesshoumaru, why are you keeping me here? What use is a second human girl trailing you around? A blind one no less? And why haven't you moved from this area at all? Last I remembered, you were almost always on the move."

Rin continued chewing on her fish, but Sesshoumaru looked up at the girl. Normally, he would say something along the lines of "Why do you ask?" but now that she brought it up, he couldn't stay here too long.

"Inuyasha," He said. "Still clutches our father's blade even in death. Even as I already possess a fine blade, Tokijin, and I no longer pursued Tetsusaiga while Inuyasha lived, I refuse to let it rot now that he is dead."

Kagome reacted slightly at the mention of Inuyasha. But she maintained her straight face nonetheless. "And you want me to give you Tetsusaiga since you still can not touch it?" She finished for him in a spiteful tone of voice. "I refuse. It is Inuyasha's possession. Taking it from his corpse would be wrong."

Her hands noticeably shook as she said this. 'She still has not completely gotten over his death I see.' Sesshoumaru noted. "Then I suppose you are of no use to me. I will then merely leave you here when I leave tomorrow. As you are blind, you will be incapable of defending yourself and getting food and will undoubtedly die. If that is the fate you wish, then fine. I will not sway you will." He hissed back.

'But then, I won't be able to get home. Shit, what was I saying?' Memories of her mother, grandfather and Sota back at home welled up in her mind as he said this. She shuddered at the thought of them, sitting at home, wondering where she was and unable to go back and look for her while she starved to death in some unknown cave in Feudal Japan. She shuddered at the thought. 'Dammit all.'

"Fine Sesshoumaru," she said through gritted teeth. 'I got no choice.' "I'll help you get your claws on Tetsusaiga, and you help me get home."

"And where might that be?"

"Through a well, not far from the village where Kikyo once lived." 'Great, and now he's probably going to destroy it or throw me down some fake.'

"A well, eh? I see no problem with that. Fine. I see this as a fair and equal trade in services." Sesshoumaru replied in a very business like tone. "Its is nearly dark, we will go to Inuyasha's corpse tomorrow."

Kagome nodded, feeling numb as if she had just made a deal with the devil.

'Dark he says? It is always dark to me. And for some reason, it feels like it will become darker. What right do I have now to go home? Maybe I should just be left here...'


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